The Croatian districts of Dalmatia, Kvarner, and Istria, as well as the Montenegrin coast, produce a fish stew known as “brudet” or “brodet.” The staple of practically every Adriatic city in Italy is brodetto di pesce, or simply brodetto. While some today food recipes of this type serve it with bread or potatoes, it is typically eaten with polenta or toasted bread, which absorbs the fish liquid. Depending on the ingredients and cooking method, brodetto can have a wide range of styles, compositions, and flavors.
The term “brodetto” refers to a variety of soups prepared throughout the Adriatic coast, and it was originally a peasant dish prepared by fishermen using their daily catch that was not sold. The secret is to have a variety of fish, like in this Marche region traditional cuisine.
Stews are also comfort food.
The speed at which this meal comes together is my favorite feature. Because seafood cooks rapidly, you only need to cook it for 10 minutes after gathering the ingredients, making it ideal for entertaining. To allow everyone to assist themselves, I brought a huge cast iron skillet to the table where I prepared this dish.
Brodetto, which can be referred to by different dialects as brodeto, boreto, broeto, brudèt, vredòtte, vrudàtte, or bredette, was first made by fishermen who would prepare their meals at sea using some of their catch—small fish that were either damaged by the nets or had no commercial value—and the limited condiments that were available on board. Numerous variations of brodetto can be found along Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast, from Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia to Vasto in Abruzzo. This type of today food recipes is close relatives of the fish stews of the Tyrrhenian to the west, such as Provençal bouillabaisse, Ligurian buridda, and Tuscan cacciucco, but differ from them in that they have a thicker texture.
A tomato foundation and an abundance of shellfish are traits shared by all the Brodetto recipes. The town of Ancona in Le Marche is the source of one of the earliest recipes for brodetto, which calls for thirteen different kinds. I decided to prepare a simplified version with shrimp, tilapia, and scallops because I didn’t have the time or finances. Since the original recipe was developed to make use of the fresh and readily accessible fish in the area, I didn’t feel too awful about this. In keeping with that attitude, I decided to use what I had on hand; if I had lived in Maine, I could have simply added clams or lobster tail.